Greater New Orleans

Corkscrews, maps in short supply

Corkscrews, computer cords, diapers and maps are in short supply in Baton Rouge, thanks to the influx of New Orleanians.

Retailers are accustomed to the usual run on storm supplies - including batteries, water and gas cans - before and immediately after a storm. But the extent of Hurricane Katrina's devastation, coupled with the forced relocation of so many New Orleanians to the state's capital city, is causing a crush at some Baton Rouge area stores.

One Sprint store just off Perkins Road ran completely out of cellular telephones. The telephone company is experiencing a flood of customers in Baton Rouge and Houma, prompting a run on phones, batteries and car chargers, said Kristin Wallace, company spokeswoman.

At Perkins Hardware on Perkins Road, a sales clerk said keyrings are in short supply after a number of Baton Rouge residents came in to have keys made for houseguests who have evacuated from New Orleans. A sign at the Wal-Mart on College Drive warned consumers that the store was out of housekeys.

To keep store shelves stocked, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is pulling merchandise from as far away as Searcy, Ark., 50 miles north of Little Rock, in addition to trucking in goods from three distribution centers that normally serve the area.

"It's like Christmas everyday from a customer traffic viewpoint" said
Wal-Mart spokeswoman Sharon Weber. "It's such an intense time and so
many customers are needing things, not just for a few weeks but to set up house and buy things to donate through churches or the Salvation
Army."
Stores that normally operate 24 hours are now closing at 10 p.m. to allow workers to concentrate on restocking shelves, Weber said.

At some Walgreens drugstore locations, customers had to drop-off prescriptions by noon and return after 4 pm. And any orders placed after 12 p.m. couldn't be retrieved until the next day. Similar waits were required at Rite Aid stores.

"Some locations in the Baton Rouge area are dispensing two, three or four times as many prescriptions as they normally do, " said Walgreens spokesman Michael Polzin.

"A lot of evacuees left the area with nothing or have run out of medication, " Polzin said. "That's taking a lot of time with the pharmacy staff, trying to contact the doctor and looking up patient history" to figure out what medication is needed, and sometimes dispense an emergency supply, he said.

With so many staffers also evacuated to different cities, Walgreens needs extra help at its 17 area stores, especially pharmacists and pharmacy techs. Sometimes the patient doesn't know which medication they need so the pharmacist has to play super-sleuth, asking what condition the medication was used to treat and what the pill looked like.

"We're hoping our Baton Rouge area customers are patient and understand because of the influx of patients from the New Orleans area" we're very busy, Polzin said. The company has stepped up the number and content of shipments, especially for drugs used to treat chronic conditions such as diabetes, heart disease and high cholesterol.

To process prescriptions faster, Walgreens rolled out a system that allows prescriptions to be scanned into a computer and sent electronically to a store in a neighboring state that isn't as busy so that workers there can check the customer's insurance and do the other administrative work required to fill a prescription. Then that store can electronically transfer the approval to the pharmacy that will dispense the medication.

Lines at area post offices, meanwhile, are dominated by people filling out change of address forms and renting post office boxes.